Falun
Gong, the evil cult banned in China, has claimed its first
victim in Canada's Pacific city of Vancouver.
Ms.
Chen Xiaolin, 29, has been hospitalized for schizophrenia
as a result of practicing Falun Gong, her mother told local
television this week.
Xiaolin
is now recovering after weeks of intensive care at a local
psychiatric hospital.
Before
her hospitalization, she had refused to see any doctors
or take any medicine, believing that cult leader Li Hongzhi
would save her life, her mother said.
She
refused nearly every request, even to the point of caring
for her new-born child. The only thing she wanted to do
was to read Li Hongzhi's book "Falun Dafa," according
to Xiaolin's mother.
The
results have been disastrous. With uncombed hair, she would
begin practicing Falun Gong in pajamas without bathing or
changing clothes. She eventually ran a high temperature
and was taken to hospital in June, her mother said.
Xiaolin
was taken so ill that she could not eat or drink because
of her ulcers.
Early
this year, immediately after her return to Shanghai, where
she gave birth to a second baby, Xiaolin was approached
by the Falun Gong organization and started to practice the
cult in the hope that it might help her in postnatal recovery.
Her
relatives in Shanghai noticed that her health was drastically
deteriorating after she began practicing Falun Gong. They
advised her to see doctors, but met only her refusal.
Worried
about worsening consequences, her mother returned with her
to Canada, unaware that the cult had already spread abroad.
The
mother was surprised when Falun Gong members in Vancouver
made many calls urging Xiaolin to join them.
"Only
then did I realize that Falun Gong members were much@tightly
regimented than I thought, with a directory of addresses
and telephone numbers of all members," the mother said.
The
mother was enraged with continual harassment from Falun
Gong, even after her daughter was seriously harmed by practicing
it.
Without
the rescue efforts by the local hospital, you cannot imagine
what might have become of Xiaolin, the mother said.
She
categorically denied that her daughter had been insane or
had had some other serious mental problems before practicing
Falun Gong.
According
to Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi, if anything goes wrong
with a practitioner, it is because he or she must have been
insane or have had a serious illness before beginning to
practicing it.
Chen
Xiaolin's suffering has aroused wide-spread concern in Vancouver,
where many people have contacted her family expressing sympathy
and outrage at the evil cult.
"The
Chinese government is right in taking resolute steps to
crack down on Falun Gong, which is even more harmful than
opium," Xiaolin's mother said.
The
Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs banned the Falun Gong
cult on July 22 this year. The organization's evil concepts
have led to more than 1,400 deaths and left many others
injured since it was launched in 1992 in China without lawful
registration.
The
government has warned that Falun Gong bears strong resemblance
to heterodox groups like Branch Davidian in the United States
and Japanese Aum Doomsday cult, which also injured and killed
innocent people.
China
daily 1999/11/18
